yed
vigor." It is related that the common potato was accidentally
introduced into England from Ireland, at a period somewhat earlier
than that noticed by Gerarde, in consequence of the wreck of a vessel
on the coast of Lancashire, which had a quantity on board. In 1663 the
Royal Society of England took measures for the cultivation of this
vegetable, with the view of preventing famine.

Notwithstanding its utility as a food became better known, no high
character was attached to it; and the writers on gardening towards the
end of the seventeenth century, a hundred years or more after its
introduction, treated of it rather indifferently. "They are much used
in Ireland and America as bread," says one author, "and may be
propagated with advantage to poor people."

The famous nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, did not consider it worthy of
notice in their "Complete Gardener," published in 1719. But its use
gradually spread as its excellencies became better understood. It was
near the middle of the last century before it was generally known
either in Britain or North America, since which it has been most
extensively cultivated.

The period of the introduction of the common potato into the British
North American colonies, is not precisely known. It is mentioned among
the products of Carolina and Virginia in 1749, and by Kalm as growing
in New York the same year.

The culture of this root extends through the whole of Europe, a large
portion of Asia, Australia, the southern and northern parts of Africa,
and the adjacent islands. On the American continent, with the
exception of some sections of the torrid zone, the culture ranges from
Labrador on the east, and Nootka Sound on the west, to Cape Horn. It
resists more effectually than the cereals the frosts of the north. In
the North American Union it is principally confined to the Northern,
Middle, and Western States, where, from the coolness of the climate it
acquires a farinaceous consistence highly conducive to the support of
animal life. It has never been extensively cultivated in Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, probably from the greater
facility of raising the sweet potato, its more tropical rival. Its
perfection, however, depends as much upon the soil as on the climate
in which it grows; for in the red loam, on the banks of Bayou Boeuf, in
Louisiana, where the land is new, it is said that tubers are produced
as large, savory, and as free from water as any raised i